My last holiday read of 2021 is The Christmas Swap by Sandy Barker – and what a great way to end the Christmas season! A little friendship, a little romance, and a whole lot of Christmas around the world!

Chloe, Jules, and Lucy meet at a Maui resort kids’ club, aged 11, forging a lifelong friendship spanning two decades and three continents.

Twenty-two years later, they decide to swap Christmases, none of them expecting the hilarity and romantic escapades that will ensue.

Chloe from Melbourne spends her Christmas with Lucy’s mum and dad in a sleepy village in Oxfordshire, England, stunned to the core when she discovers who grew up across the road from Lucy.

Lucy, who has jetted off to snowy Colorado for her dream-come-true white Christmas, is taken into the fold of Jules’s loud and brash family, discovering more about herself in a few short days than she has in years.

And Jules leaves the cold climes of Colorado to spend a balmy ‘Orphan’s Christmas’ with Chloe’s friends in Melbourne, finding that time away from her mundane life is just what she needed.

Join these three lovable women as they each get a Christmas to surpass their wildest dreams.

I don’t know about you, but I don’t think I would be brave enough to travel the world alone, much less spend Christmas with one of my friend’s family without them. That would take a lot of guts – this makes me thankful for stories like these! I can live vicariously without ever having to leave the comfort of my house.

This was such a fun read! I enjoyed reading about how Christmas can be in the super snowy landscapes, when it’s summer-like weather and when it’s cold and rainy. I loved how realistic the friendships were as well. Not everything is always rainbows and butterflies, and this story highlighted both the highs and lows of where friendships can take you when you mix a little bit of family in.

Now that my final holiday read is over, I am feeling a little sad! Should I try to sneak one more in before the new year is upon us?